Choosing Your Schools - How did you decide?

[id quid]

I know there are several ways to approach this -- not all of them perfectly rational! -- but I thought I'd reach out to those of you from the Fall 2013 cycle and those of you preparing/polishing your lists for Fall 2014 and help those of us who aren't fully committed yet make some decisions.

 

Some of the common ones I've heard:

 

• Talk to your advisor
• Follow the sources: if you've already written well-sourced articles or papers in your area of interest, find out who wrote your sources and where they teach
• Check the major publications for bylines of articles that interest you, and follow the authors to their university
• Scan university websites for faculty of interest
• Find junior faculty doing what you want to do and see where they achieved their PhD
• Check the US News & World Reports rankings and decide which school has the best faculty for your specialty

 

So how did you decide?

Edited August 29, 2013 by id quid

[aGiRlCalLeDApPlE]

This is a good list. But I only counted on two of them: fit and reasonable admissions requirements. I had to search for schools that offer PhDs in Comp. Lit. Then I tried to narrow down this long list based on fit until I reached 9 of them only. Now, after "careful consideration" of admissions requirements, my list has only 4 schools that I'm sure I'll apply to, and an extra one that fits my interests but I don't really like. Anyway, I should advice you to apply to schools that perfectly matches your research interests. Many people would say "apply to as many schools as you can afford". But I'm convinced that I shouldn't force myself to apply to a certain school unless I'm sure I'd want to study there. I hope you're not confused by all this, cuz I already am

[toasterazzi]

I've attacked this process from several different angles including looking at basically every college that offers a PhD in English, looking at the professors' interests and publications, looking at the course offering, looking at the rankings, exploring the locations and their costs of living and so on. My list has fluctuated numerous times over the last six months or so, and I've scrapped it and started over more than once. I'm at a solid seven schools right now that I think I'm going to stick with. They're all in locations that appeal to me reasonably well, and they all have at least a couple profs and course offerings that appeal to my interests. And while a couple are more toward the upper echelon of the rankings, I also have a few that would be further down on those lists. I've thought a lot about whether or not I should apply to more schools, and there are a few more that could possibly work, but this is a pretty expensive process. My funds are already going to be stretched super thin this fall/winter with what I already have, and I just don't want to add anything more to that pile.

[egwynn]

I feel like I'm always Debbie Downer when I drag this into these conversations, but I'm going to do it anyways.  I highly (and repeatedly and fervently) recommend that you give yourself as many options as possible.  Here's why:

 

1) What you want right now might not be what you want in January.  The time between submitting apps and hearing from schools can be a strange and mystical part of your life: you might read Jamaica Kincaid for the first time and become obsessed, you might meet your POI at a conference and discover that he is the devil incarnate, you might realize that you wouldn't live in Chicago if it were the last place on earth, or many many other things.  Be a little flexible about what you can imagine yourself doing, because not only will you possibly change what you want between now and March, but you'll almost definitely change direction at least a little bit once you arrive at your program and start trying and learning new things.

 

2) This is obvious, but it's worth stating and considering again and again.  What you see online, what you get in emails, what you hear from students before going places, and what your POIs tell you is all marketing.  I was admitted to a program this past season that seemed really good on paper and online, but when I visited it, I was immediately put off by the attitude of the department.  Be critical.  You don't want to end up somewhere that doesn't work for you because you were starry-eyed.  Being negative and fastidiously evaluative is a bit of a drag and might make you unpopular at margarita Mondays for a few months, but it will also probably put you in a better position than just riding on what the program says it offers and is.

 

3) If you can produce (and afford) 15 applications of the same quality that you would achieve if you were only producing 3, I would recommend applying more places.  I know that people feel strongly in both directions about this, but my reasoning is pretty basic and mathematical.  Both times I have applied, I have had a 25% success rate.  Had I applied to 4 schools, this would give me 1 option. Because I applied to 16, I had 4.  You want options for reasons 1 and 2 and also because, when you have multiple offers, you can haggle.  This is not true everywhere, as some schools have a standard stipend and that's that, but there are many schools that will ask you what your other offers are, and if you can return that U of A has offered you $5,000 more than U of B and you'd really prefer U of B, then you might just get $7,500 more from U of B.  (This is looking way ahead, but I'm also going to recommend not feeling timid about haggling; don't haggle if they have a set stipend, but if you think you have leverage, do it.)

 

4) Unless you feel very strongly that you would be utterly miserable living somewhere or you are moving with a partner/kids and need to consider location more, don't eliminate schools because of where they are.  I'm not particularly keen on Texas, California, or NYC, but I applied to 6 schools in those locations and very seriously considered the offers I got from some of them.  The fact that I ended up in a program that is both highly-ranked and pretty much exactly where I want to be is pure chance (and this program only became my first choice after I visited all of the programs I'd been admitted to).  Weigh the pros (what the university is going to do for you) against the cons (horrible weather, in a city, not in a city), and the pros will very probably win.

 

5) Listen to advice and recommendations, but also don't feel timid about rejecting it.  My advisor at my last program suggested about 30 programs to me, and probably 15 of them made it on my list or were already there.  I was pretty dubious about one of those, but I decided to go for it even though I wasn't keen on the location and the program wasn't represented well on the website.  This program became my #2 and I very nearly ended up there.  Even though I did not choose to do my PhD there, I made very valuable connections with the faculty during my visit.  The program I chose is not the one he was pushing for, but I decided it was the best fit for me.

 

Anyways, those are some of the more nuanced ways I made my list.  I'll also answer id quid's question a bit more directly with this bullet point:

• ask any helpful faculty

Your an advisor is, obviously, important in this process, but you have far more brains to pick than his or hers.  Ask profs you get along with in your department and in relevant departments.  If you're not a dick about it, people who are in radically different specialties than the one you want to enter will probably be willing to take the time and effort to think about it and even reach out to contacts they have on your behalf.  Be polite, friendly, and solicitous, and you will be inundated with helpful information.

Edited August 29, 2013 by Lons

[ComeBackZinc]

I applied to I think 4 schools. I knew where I wanted to go, and I took the idea of program fit seriously. I knew already about a lot of different programs, knew who some of the prominent profs were at each place, and got some of the gossip and inside info from profs and former students. There were a couple more places I could have applied, but I knew I had a very strong application and I knew that there was no point or purpose to applying to programs that weren't actually conducive to my future career and my quality of life for 4-6 years. But that's just me. 

[wreckofthehope]

As someone moving countries with a partner, I had to put location on about equal footing with fit, which unfortunately meant that I didn't even apply to many of what I thought were my very best fit schools.

 

Setting that particular situation aside, though,  I agree very much with Lons' approach. My interests haven't shifted a huge amount, but the way that I'm framing them has, when I look around now at schools, there are about five places that I never even applied to (but considered seriously) that would have been absolutely ideal for me at this two-year-in stage...at the time, I thought that they were alright, but not good enough fit-wise to spend money on applying to them. So, I suppose I'd say - do concentrate on fit, but also try to think about fit in broader terms than 'this school has three professors for me to work with,' and, yes, if you have the money and time, do apply to those schools that are on th e edges of your list (often you just don't know enough at this stage to rule them out).

Edited August 29, 2013 by wreckofthehope

[jazzyd]

I second everything Lons said and I'll say, had I compiled my list alone I would not have applied to half the schools I applied to and would probably not be going where I'm going now. I would have applied to fewer schools, almost no prestigious programs and/or would've overlooked great programs that in my mind didn't seem strong because I was unfamiliar with the university.

 

Sometimes I think people get hung up too much on fit. Being limited by financial resources (or family/employment etc.) is one thing. But if someone honestly cannot see themselves fitting into more than 4-5 schools,they may need to reevaluate their criteria - unless they're so set on just those schools that they would rather face total rejection in the spring than a choice of schools that maybe weren't at the top of the list (at that moment in time; visiting a school and speaking with professors there personally can change a lot). Which some people are and that's A-OK!

 

To me, fit is less about finding a professor or professors who encompass every aspect of your research interests and more about finding a program and faculty list with enough pieces for you to pull together during graduate study. Maybe Professor X has the theoretical framework you like, but Professor X does Victorian and you're an early Americanist. Professor Y does early American, but their focus is on poetry instead of novels. However, there's also Professor Z who's an expert on the American novel. As a grad student you could possibly use Professor X's guidance on laying out your theory, Professor Y for historical/cultural research, and Professor Z for form analysis.

 

Tbh, the above is something I've discussed with professors after receiving offers and going visits, but the initial school-choosing process was much simpler. It was basically: "Which schools will allow me to pursue research in this, this, and this from a creative perspective with a reasonable (comparatively) possibility of employment after graduation?" From there I eventually got 19 strong programs. If I didn't get into any of those programs, the plan was to apply to a similar (probably reduced) list. As it was, I got into 5. And the rest is history - a very short history of me picking Chicago and twiddling my thumbs since we still haven't started classes yet ugh.

Edited August 30, 2013 by jazzy dubois

[egwynn]

I agree about people getting hung up on fit.  I think something that made this a non-issue for me is that I went into my MA with a real hard-on for working with two particular people.  That did not pan out.  At all.  Working with one of them was, actually, one of the worst experiences of my life thus far.  

 

So, in picking a PhD program, I thought about it in a very different way.  Instead of asking who is doing what I'm doing, I asked myself who is going to think about what I'm doing in a way that will supplement and complement my work.  I don't want to work with someone who makes me feel redundant, or whose role in my work is basically to simply affirm all of my efforts regardless of their actual merit.  I want to work with someone whose work is actually quite distinct from mine.  So that's what I'm going to do.  

 

The bigger question was which PhD is going to leave me in the best place in 5 years (i.e. with little to no debt, publications, great referees, a respected degree, great experience that's prepared me for the job market, a backup plan for when I don't get tenure, and a really impressive CV).  It's a bit mercenary, but your job prospects aren't going to care in 6 years that you and your advisor were bffls if you're not also bringing a hell of a lot more to the job talk.

 

And if/when I discover that some of these people I thought I would work with don't mesh with me, I'm going to shift my priorities just enough to work with someone else.  I have had Plan Bs for every step of this process, from what to do if I don't get in/don't apply to what to do if everyone in my specialty up and retires on the same day.  It's a bit paranoid, but my experience at my MA made me feel that it's more or less necessary to prepare yourself for these kinds of eventualities. 

[ComeBackZinc]

As in all things in this process, different people will have to apply different thinking and figure out their own strategy. There are plenty of people who apply to a single school, get in, and go on to long careers; there are plenty of people who apply to dozens of schools and do the same. It's not a one-size-fits-all process, and thank goodness for that.

 

Incidentally, the argument for fit is not that you become bffs with your professors. It's that a) fit is important to adcomms, which makes it more likely that you'll get in and that an effective working relationship and overlapping interests are more likely to result in the kind of CV that does matter for professionalization. 

 

And, you know, the American university is built on patronage. Film at 11.

[id quid]

Thank you all for your very valuable input on this no size fits all kind of question. There's a lot to think about here!

 

The trouble I'm having is balancing program fit against what I feel are my "chances" of making a match. (And funding. Mustn't forget funding!) I would like to be competitive at the most competitive schools, but my GPA is probably not up to snuff (pending resolution of a transcript issue, I believe it's 3.4-3.6); plus, I was a transfer student. I've yet to take the GREs, but I estimate my subject score at 80th percentile at best, and my general at 80-90th percentile. Good, definitely! But not outstanding.

 

Anyway. I've waited long enough. I've been out of school for four years, thinking every fall about applying. That's why you see both MA institutions and PhD institutions on my list. I do not feel so committed to this path that I need to go to any school at all costs, but I do so dearly want to go. I am comfortable with my current career, but it does not excite me nearly the way research and paper writing and teaching do. 

 

My alma mater is one of those schools where my record will not stand out. I know there are challenges there in terms of "academic inbreeding," but I truly believe it has the best department to support my research interests while still giving me the freedom to branch out. But with a general bias against a school taking on its own undergrads, my already slim chances seem slimmer still. That is definitely a conversation I will be having with my recommending professors, especially since I know at least one of them is regularly on the English grad admissions committee.

 

--

 

Basically, nothing new here. Anxiety. This thread -- for me -- was about affirming my own decisions. But I also help the input helps anyone else come to some decisions on how to approach the question of where to apply.

Edited August 31, 2013 by id quid

[ComeBackZinc]

One problem with the fit thing is that it's just so hard to know the criteria for what fit means from the outside. By that I mean that I agree with the consensus that how you fit into a particular department is very important, and that this is shaped by your declared research interests and the profs who work and publish in the department. But the needs of those departments and profs are often idiosyncratic and change from semester to semester, depending on who has been admitted in recent years, who has what advisees, etc. So it's almost like, "Fit is super important, but not something you can understand from the outside." Which is very frustrating of course. That's an argument for the "apply to a lot of schools" camp, I think. Just so much chance.

[egwynn]

id quid, I was a UG transfer as well.  I had a pretty limp GPA before transferring, but I don't think that my transfer affected how adcomms looked at me.  So I wouldn't worry too much about that if I were you.

[id quid]

Fit is the most challenging thing for me, as a medievalist. There are a surprising number of campuses with departments hosting a number of specialists in my field, but finding the sub-specialty profs in any already small field is an incredible challenge. That's where, for me, following citations to their faculty and so on has been so helpful in identifying places. That, and finding the medieval centers which host the most programs, resources, etc. for students and young scholars. 

 

--

 

Lons: It's a relief to hear that being a transfer isn't a death knell, but it has left me with a troubling question: How do I calculate my GPA? I'm looking at my degree-granting institution's final transcript, and I have 5 other colleges contributing credit to my degree! Two are from high school, and one was a random set of enrichment credits that for some reason transferred, but the other two are legit. 

 

I have a major GPA (but do I calculate ALL English courses, or just the ones from my degree-granting uni?), a college GPA, a college-system GPA (one of my transfer schools and one of my high-school schools are in the same system as my final institution), a post-high school GPA, an all-in GPA...

 

So many numbers. 

 

I figure the one that matters most is the one that appears on my degree-granting institution's final GPA, which is some combination of all, so my question more pertains to the major GPA. 

 

Who knew GPA would be so complicated.

[egwynn]

good lawd.  

 

I had it easy.  2 institutions and no major courses at the first one.  I think I averaged/recalculated to combine them for total GPA, but I wouldn't put any money on that. 

[id quid]

I will ask my advisors and see what they recommend. The answer is probably, "Go get an MA, then they care less."

 

The first school was a bad fit and a terrible year; I left after the first year was through. The second school was a community college near home. The third is where I got my degree. The others are either pre-college or weird courses I took in addition to the community college classes, mostly for fun.

 

I'm really hoping the 2.5 years I took at the school at which I received my degree count more. Since it's 90% of my major, and the last years of instruction, I'm betting they will. Still, those overall GPA numbers are difficult to determine!

[id quid]

The time has come to meet with my potential recommendation letter writers, and they are naturally interested in the schools at which I am intending to submit an application.

 

My signature has the schools I've flirted with, but I'm at a bit of a conundrum.

 

I am betting than an MA is a good next step for me. I know I want to pursue a PhD, but an MA would allow me to distance myself a little from my questionable and jumpy undergraduate history and really dive into research. 

 

I want to submit PhD applications to the five I have listed currently -- Yale, UC Berkeley, Notre Dame, UT-Austin, and UCLA -- but I am struggling a little with the list of MA programs. I also am not sure I want to apply to 11 schools. The Master's programs run the gamut, too, from Medieval multi-disciplinary taught degrees to English literature research degrees with a focus on medieval or earlier literature.

 

How on earth do I decide?

 

There's the argument for future employability, where an English degree with a specialization is likely to make me more flexible in the market. There's the argument for close study, as the medieval degrees account for codicology and paleography in a way a standard English degree does not. There's the part where I don't want to focus in so closely on my field of specialty -- especially since it's more Anglo-Saxon than true medieval -- and would want the flexibility to study a wider period and subject. Then there's the question of how much all of this truly matters for a Master's degree, since my ultimate goal is indeed to pursue a doctorate.

 

Any help?!

 

For reference, here's an idea of the schools and degree programs I've been looking at in the Master's level:

 

University of Oxford: M.St. English Language and Literature (650 –1550) [1 year] or M.Phil in English Studies (Medieval Period) [2 years] (nb, I'm heavily leaning toward the latter)

University of Toronto: M.A. in Medieval Studies [1 year]

University of Connecticut: M.A. English [2 years]

University of Edinburgh: MSc in Medieval Literatures and Cultures [1 year] or MSc Medieval Literature in Scotland and England [1 year; 2 if by research]

University of York: MA, Medieval Literatures [1 year]

University of Leeds: MA, Medieval Studies [1 year] or MA English Literature [1 year]

University of Cambridge: MPhil in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic [1 year] or M.Phil. in Medieval and Renaissance Literature [1 year]

Edited September 19, 2013 by id quid

[antigone56]

My list isn't final (things may shift based on my October 11th GRE test), but for the most part I'm choosing based on 1) where I'd be willing to live (fortunately, most of my choices align with where my boyfriend is willing to live), 2) recommendations of one of my letter writers (who knows good schools in my area of interest, as his area of interest is the same), 3) rank (spreading out my choices among high, middle, and low rank schools), 4) fit -- do they have several faculty  members who work in my area of interest?  

[id quid]

That's how I generated my list in the first place, so I definitely agree with you.

 

I suppose since I'm going to go into this meeting, I can mention that I'd love her input on my tentative list and see what she recommends.

 

This whole process makes crazy people out of all of us, I think. So much close reading means every insignificant piece takes on monstrous importance when we're analyzing, in fine detail, our applications to programs with murky requests.

Edited September 19, 2013 by id quid

[poliscar]

id quid, the British MAs will cost you $$$ if you're an international student, and with little to no chance for funding. I'd feel out the PhD programs and apply to the American/Canadian MA programs. If the British schools seem viable financially then go for it, but things have changed a lot in terms of cost over the past couple years. 

[id quid]

Yeah, I'm aware. This is where the part where the well-paid field I'm in, and have been for the past four years, comes in handy.

 

Also, too, UConn seems to be the only school in the US that funds its Master's students and has enough faculty and support for my field. Toronto is a wonderful program focusing on the medieval portions of my degree.

 

I haven't seen any other programs in the States or Canada that really fulfill the medieval requirement and offer any better financial solutions than a UK program. Even when they cost money, those British programs come in under some of the US Master's! And then they have the benefit, of course, of more primary sources and locations for the very things I'm studying, plus the faculty.

Edited September 20, 2013 by id quid

[guinevere29]

The time has come to meet with my potential recommendation letter writers, and they are naturally interested in the schools at which I am intending to submit an application.

 

My signature has the schools I've flirted with, but I'm at a bit of a conundrum.

 

I am betting than an MA is a good next step for me. I know I want to pursue a PhD, but an MA would allow me to distance myself a little from my questionable and jumpy undergraduate history and really dive into research. 

 

I want to submit PhD applications to the five I have listed currently -- Yale, UC Berkeley, Notre Dame, UT-Austin, and UCLA -- but I am struggling a little with the list of MA programs. I also am not sure I want to apply to 11 schools. The Master's programs run the gamut, too, from Medieval multi-disciplinary taught degrees to English literature research degrees with a focus on medieval or earlier literature.

 

How on earth do I decide?

 

There's the argument for future employability, where an English degree with a specialization is likely to make me more flexible in the market. There's the argument for close study, as the medieval degrees account for codicology and paleography in a way a standard English degree does not. There's the part where I don't want to focus in so closely on my field of specialty -- especially since it's more Anglo-Saxon than true medieval -- and would want the flexibility to study a wider period and subject. Then there's the question of how much all of this truly matters for a Master's degree, since my ultimate goal is indeed to pursue a doctorate.

 

Any help?!

 

For reference, here's an idea of the schools and degree programs I've been looking at in the Master's level:

 

University of Oxford: M.St. English Language and Literature (650 –1550) [1 year] or M.Phil in English Studies (Medieval Period) [2 years] (nb, I'm heavily leaning toward the latter)

University of Toronto: M.A. in Medieval Studies [1 year]

University of Connecticut: M.A. English [2 years]

University of Edinburgh: MSc in Medieval Literatures and Cultures [1 year] or MSc Medieval Literature in Scotland and England [1 year; 2 if by research]

University of York: MA, Medieval Literatures [1 year]

University of Leeds: MA, Medieval Studies [1 year] or MA English Literature [1 year]

University of Cambridge: MPhil in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic [1 year] or M.Phil. in Medieval and Renaissance Literature [1 year]

 

I thought I'd pipe in on this discussion since we are both medievalists. Poliscar is right that most of the international MAs you listed (both British and Canadian) are going to cost you a lot. I was accepted to the MA at Toronto, but as is typical for international students, was offered no funding. I didn't even apply to any programs in England because I knew I wasn't willing to pay. Unless you've really looked at the finances and you're on board to pay upwards of $50,000 for your MA overseas (knowing you will likely carry that debt into a PhD program if you choose to move on), I wouldn't bother spending all that application money on interational MA schools.

 

As far as funding for master's students, Western Mighican University (I've posted about it elsewhere on this forum) offers funding for masters students and is an excellent place to study and build your resume for applications to PhD programs later on. Medieval studies is a speciality there and they have the faculty to support their medieval lit and history students. A friend of mine who got her MA from WMU got into Notre Dame, UIUC, and Minnesota for the PhD after attending WMU's program. Not to mention you'll get to see the big medieval conference every year without traveling, which could be great for networking for PhD apps. Georgetown also offers a funded MA to some students. This is a more expensive place to live, but I've known medievalists (with specific Anglo-Saxon interests) who have successfully used this program as a stepping stone to top PhD programs.

 

However, I wouldn't count yourself out of all the PhD programs just yet. "Fit" is definitely a good thing to take into consideration, but you don't want to limit yourself too much, or take yourself out of the running for the schools. Some more anecdotal evidence for why you shouldn't make assumptions is that a good friend of mine who had an unusal application (considering she did not major in English) ended up getting into the medieval english PhD programs at Stanford and University of Virginia. You just don't know what is going to interest POIs on your applications and a lot of them are willing to overlook percieved shortcomings if they really like your writing sample or personal statement.

 

My advice is to apply to more PhD programs if that is truly your end goal and to ask around to more people about MAs in the states that offer funding. Five PhD programs isn't going to give you a good statsitical chance of getting into one. I applied to 9 programs total and got into 3 MA programs and one PhD program. I'm really happy with the fit of the program I did get into, but I had no leverage to ask for more funding because I didn't have any better offers to compare it with. The best way to search for good programs in medieval is to ask your adivsors/professors and current medieval graduate students. It's so hard to look at the rankings and decide because a school could have awesome faculty for medieval cycle plays and have few Anglo-Saxonists and the overall rankings wouldn't reflect that.

[id quid]

The professor asking for my list is an Anglo-Saxonist, so I definitely plan on speaking with her about her recommendations. 

 

I hear you about the cost to attend, but it isn't a factor for the MA, particularly the 1-year programs. It is a factor for PhD, of course. I mostly figure if I'm going to pay for my MA, I may as well do so and live in a place where I'll have easier access to the folks I cite in my papers and/or the libraries at which my documents reside. 

 

I know of WMU, but I did not know they had funding for Master's. My one big concern there is similar to the one I do have about the international schools; namely, does it make sense to get a Medieval Studies degree when my ultimate goal is an English PhD? My undergraduate major was English Literature, but I wonder about the effect an interdisciplinary studies degree will have on my PhD applications. (I am probably worrying about nothing much here, as I'm sure it happens all the time. Can't stop anxiety!)

 

I also didn't know Stanford had medieval English. Their faculty looked kind of spare, and wasn't among those I used for my work so far, but maybe I'll look a little deeper. 

 

As far as PhD applications go... perhaps you're right. Mostly, those 5 schools are the ones I'd absolutely attend if offered admissions, no questions asked, and ones I'm willing to fight for. My GPA is middling to okay (once a transcript issue gets sorted out, I think it's a 3.6 at best, major and total), and I don't yet have my GRE scores (study testing at ~75-85 percentiles). I also have the many schools (5), and only 2.5 years at my degree-granting institution, and it basically just stamps a really big UNKNOWN over how I will fare against committees that have to look over all this stuff. 

 

Basically: thank you all for your thoughts. I will be talking to my recommendation letter writers in the next week or two, and I will ask their advice as well.

[id quid]

Thought I'd give y'all an update on my meetings:

 

Both professors agree a Master's degree is my best next step. I need to distance myself from my mixed transcript, my transfer, my few years away from school.

 

hey also agree that a British degree is almost definitely not worth it, and in their experience no student comes out of it without significant debt which follows them into their PhD programs (if they're even so lucky as to continue into one). 

 

I'm a little frustrated with the answer to get a Master's degree coupled with the missive to "avoid debt." The number of Master's programs which give me a leg up on my chances to get into, say, Yale or Berkeley or Notre Dame, is limited, and the number of those which are funded is even more limited. A sampling of the schools one professor recommended I add to my list: University of Chicago's MAPH, UVA's MA, Carnegie Mellon's MA,, UToronto's MMS. Now, go ahead and guess how many of those are funded. Once you've got that, check the cost of tuition + living expenses for them. Then compare that to the British degrees.

 

What's the difference? :|

Edited September 24, 2013 by id quid

[egwynn]

Have you looked at McGill and UBC?  McGill, at least, is in a more affordable city (do your research, though... they're having huge budget cuts, so your resources may be disappearing and some of the faculty are as well).

[wreckofthehope]

Have you looked at McGill and UBC?  McGill, at least, is in a more affordable city (do your research, though... they're having huge budget cuts, so your resources may be disappearing and some of the faculty are as well).

 

Yeah - maybe look more closely at other Canadian schools? While Toronto has issues funding international students, other Canadian uni's offer generous Master's (and PhD) funding. I know Toronto is the Canadian place for Medieval...but I'm sure some of the other schools could also be good fits. Calgary and Alberta have very generous funding, I know UVic has good MA funding, too, and I think UBC does also (others possibly also worth looking into: Dalhousie, Queens, McMaster, SFU, Ottawa).

 

I'd also add that there's a thread in here somewhere on funded MA's -  go through it and see if any would be a good fit. I was thinking Wake Forest's MA might be?

Edited September 25, 2013 by wreckofthehope